New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be among the first few world leaders to visit the United States following the start of US President Donald Trump’s second term in office a few weeks ago, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Friday.
The visit, which will take place on February 12 and 13 at the invitation of the President of the United States of America, will be PM Modi’s first to the US since the inauguration of Trump’s second term.
“The fact that the Prime Minister has been invited to visit the US within barely three weeks of the new administration taking office shows the importance of the India-US partnership and reflects the bipartisan support this partnership enjoys in the United States,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters in New Delhi on Friday.
The visit, the top Diplomat stressed, would be a valuable opportunity to engage the new administration on all areas of mutual interest.
The Prime Minister will hold a bilateral meeting with President Trump, in both restricted and delegation-level formats.
“Senior US administration figures are also expected to call on PM Modi during the visit while he will also have the opportunity to interact with the business leaders and members of the Indian community,” added the Foreign Secretary.
Reckoning that it has been one of India’s strongest international partnerships in recent years, Misri said that the PM’s visit is in line with New Delhi’s steady engagement with the new US administration following the election of President Trump in November 2024.
“Prime Minister Modi visited the US on two occasions during President Trump’s first term – in 2017 and 2019. This time, after his election victory, PM Modi was one of the first world leaders to call and congratulate him. The PM again called him after the inauguration and it was on that occasion that they agreed to meet very soon. This is the promise and the commitment that is now unfolding,” he said.
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar, who attended President Trump’s inauguration last month in Washington, also had his first meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
During his visit, EAM Jaishankar had also met with the new US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, a former Congressman.
On Thursday evening, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the new US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth reaffirmed shared commitment to the India-US defence partnership in their first interaction over phone.
“The leaders agreed to pursue an ambitious agenda to accelerate our operational cooperation and defence industrial and technology collaboration to deter aggression in the Indo-Pacific. The Secretary noted he looks forward to holding the next 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue and concluding the next 10-year US-India Defence Framework this year,” read a statement issued by the US Defence Department.
(IANS)
